European Trade and Commercial Law

Our LLM in European Trade and Commercial Law offers you the opportunity to study the highly significant area of European legislation relating to trade and commerce that continues to have huge relevance in the economic and political landscape.

As well as learning about key commercial issues such as cross-border commercial litigation and EU takeover regulation, you will also examine more people-related topics such as the protection of human rights and constitutional issues. If European law is a new subject to you then you will also take a foundation module that introduces the fundamental principles of European Community law.

The course runs for one year full-time and is delivered through a series of lectures and also small seminar or tutorial groups. You will be required to complete an extended dissertation using your own research on an area of European law of your own choice, for which you will be given support and guidance from a member of the academic staff with expertise in that particular area.

The law school is home to the Durham European Law Institute and you will be encouraged to join its many activities, while the library includes the European Documentation Centre which boasts a wide range of European-related material, to which you will have access as part of your studies.

A longstanding expertise and a tradition of innovative, interdisciplinary research can be found within the school and this heritage is supported by outstanding academic facilities including a moot court, dedicated workroom, a pro bono room and a Harvard-style lecture theatre.

Course Structure

Core modules

Introduction to European Law offers an overview of the fundamental principles of European Community law and provides a springboard for further study or research into more specialised areas. This key module will enable you to acquire a proper grounding in basic principles, features and institutions of the European Community legal system.

Applied Research Methods in Law provides specialised knowledge on the range of research methods and skills available in legal studies as well as an advanced understanding of their strengths and weaknesses and of their relevance for different forms of legal research. The module also creates a framework within which you will be able to critically assess potential research topics and, importantly, where you will be able to design, discuss and develop a detailed research proposal of the appropriate standards for your dissertation.

The Dissertation is based on your particular research interests in an area of European Trade and Commercial Law, and can be of one of two lengths – 10,000 or 15,000 words. The dissertation is equivalent to 2 or 2.5 modules, depending on word count.

Depending on the dissertation length and prior subject knowledge, you can choose a number of subject specific optional modules (* indicates half modules) which in previous years have included:

• Advanced Issues in Human Rights*
• Advanced Issues in International Economic Law 
• Advanced Issues of International Intellectual Property Law*
• Comparative Corporate Governance 
• Competition Law
• Corporate Compliance*
• Corporations in an EU Context 
• Consumption Tax Law and Policy* 
• Cross-border Commercial Litigation
• Current Issues in Commercial Law 
• Electronic Commerce* 
• Global Financial Law 
• Horizontal Human Rights*
• International Banking Law 
• International Commercial Dispute Resolution
• International Sales Law
• International Trade Law and Policy
• Introduction to Corporate Insolvency Law*
• Introduction to Intellectual Property Law*
• Mergers and Acquisitions*
• Multinational Corporations and Human Rights*
• Protection of Human Rights in Europe 
• Renewable Energy Law*
• Securities Law and Capital Markets 
• US Business Associations 

Your remaining options can be chosen from a wider selection of law modules (* indicates half modules) which in previous years have included:

• Advanced Issues in Corporate Law*
• Advanced Issues in the Constitutional Law of the EU* 
• Advanced Law of Obligations 
• China and the International Legal Order* 
• Commercial Fraud*
• Comparative and Transnational Law* 
• Current Problems of International Law 
• Free Speech Problems in International and Comparative Perspective*
• Frontiers in Biolaw*
• Fundamental Issues in International Legal Governance*
• Fundamentals of Corporate Law*
• Fundamentals of International Law*
• Global Environmental Law*
• Global Institutions 
• International and Comparative Corporate Insolvency Law* 
• International Humanitarian Law 
• International Investment Law*
• International Perspectives on Law and Gender* 
• International Protection of Human Rights
• International Tax Law*
• Introduction to Corporate Governance*
• Introduction to International Criminal Justice
• Law of Oil and Gas Contracts*
• Law of the Sea 
• Medical Law and Ethics*
• Private International Law and China*
• Takeover Regulation in the EU* 
• International Law of Peace and Security 
• International Perspectives in Cartel Control*
• The Law of Subsidy and State Aid Control*
• Current Issues in International Law and Governance*
• US Corporate Law*
• Modules offered by another Board of Studies (subject to approval)